1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to puzzles for playing by assembling cards into a complete figure or the like, and items associated therewith.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a jig-saw puzzle is well known, for example, as the type of puzzle mentioned above. The jig-saw puzzle is comprised of a plurality of divided pieces which represent, when completely assembled, a figure or the like. Before use, the pieces are separately contained in a box or the like. When in use, the pieces are assembled one by one on a planar surface such as a table by fitting each salient formed on a side of each piece into a corresponding recess formed on a side of a different piece, thus reconstructing a target predetermined figure or the like.
Due to the nature of the jig-saw puzzle resulting from its form, the jig-saw puzzle has the following difficulties in handling. First, when playing in a vehicle such as a train, for example, joggling and vibrations of the vehicle prevent a player from fitting one piece into another. Second, for replacing pieces after use, a laborious work is required for separating pieces, fitted together, one by one to accommodate separated pieces in the box. Further, since the pieces are separate, the total number of pieces must be counted for confirming whether or not one complete set of pieces is present. In addition, such small pieces are readily missing. Furthermore, since a set of pieces for a jig-saw puzzle is limited to only one figure or the like reconstructed from the pieces, the jig-saw puzzle lacks the versatility as amusement.
In view of the foregoing problems, which the present invention has been made to solve, it is an object of the present invention to provide puzzles in the form of stacks which eliminates laborious handling before, after and during use, and exhibits high versatility as amusement.
It is another object of the present invention to provide sheet materials suitable for creating cards constituting a puzzle, a bag suitable for keeping cards and adjusting a positional relationship of the cards, card fixtures suitable for facilitating the display of figures on cards constituting a puzzle, and an intermediate layer which facilitates removable of cards, once fixed to the card fixture, from the card fixture.
To achieve the above objects, in a first aspect, the present invention provides a puzzle for reconstructing an overall picture by assembling a plurality of segmental pictures divided from the overall picture. The puzzle includes a number of stacks equal to the number of segmental pictures, wherein each of the stacks includes a plurality of cards, each of the card displays one of the segmental pictures, and cards displaying associated segmental pictures divided from the same overall picture are selected from each of the plurality of stacks for exposure, and assembled to reconstruct the overall picture.
In this puzzle, each of the card may include reconstruction information for reconstructing an overall picture associated with a segmental picture displayed thereon.
In a second aspect, the present invention provides a puzzle for reconstructing an overall picture by assembling a plurality of segmental pictures divided from the overall picture. The puzzle includes a puzzle body having a number of stacks equal to the number of segmental pictures, wherein each of the stacks includes a plurality of cards, each of the card displays one of the segmental pictures, and cards displaying associated segmental pictures divided from the same overall picture are selected from each of the plurality of stacks for exposure, and assembled to reconstruct the overall picture, and a reconstruction information stack including a plurality of cards, each of the cards including reconstruction information for reconstructing an overall picture associated with a segmental picture displayed thereon, and a field for a player to write the reconstruction information.
In the puzzle described above, the stack may further include a holder inserted through a hole formed through each of the cards. Each of the cards may be formed with a plurality of holes, and the stack may include a plurality of holders. Each of the cards may also include a notch formed on at least one side thereof for fitting the holder therein when the holder is rotated about a portion thereof extending through the hole, wherein the notch has a depth equal to or larger than a thickness of the holder.
In a third aspect, the present invention provides a puzzle sheet which includes a continuous sheet surface having an area corresponding to an area of a plurality of cards arranged side by side; cut lines formed on at least one side of the puzzle sheet for cutting the puzzle sheet into cards therealong and for serving as boundaries of the cards; and a plurality of holes formed within areas defined by the cut lines, which correspond to holes formed through the cards for inserting a holder therethrough.
In a fourth aspect, the present invention provides a bag for keeping a puzzle, which includes holes extending through both sides thereof, and corresponding to holes formed through cards constituting the puzzle for inserting a holder therethrough.
In a fifth aspect, the present invention provides a card fixture which includes a substrate having a size corresponding to a size of at least one card constituting a puzzle; and protrusions formed on a top surface of the substrate in the same positional relationship with holes formed through the cards.
In a sixth aspect, the present invention provides an intermediate layer interposed between a card fixture and a plurality of cards when the cards are fixed on the card fixture. The intermediate layer, having a size covering a top surface of the card fixture, includes holes formed therethrough for inserting protrusions formed on the card fixture for fixing cards; and at least one salient formed on the periphery for removing the cards from the card fixture.
Those and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of various embodiments thereof, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
It should be noted that the xe2x80x9cpicturexe2x80x9d which is represented by the terms, xe2x80x9coverall picturexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9csegmental picturexe2x80x9d herein, is not limited to what is represented by the general semantic concept of a xe2x80x9cpicture,xe2x80x9d but includes everything that is visually recognizable, such as various figures, designs, photographs, patterns, letters, symbols, colors, etc., as the characteristics of the present invention.